Steve Sukup (pronounced SOOK-up) and his brother, Charles, run a family business in north central Iowa that makes grain handling equipment, notably grain bins. Steve Sukup served in the Iowa legislature and ran for governor in 2002, losing a tight primary race to nominee Doug Gross. (Trivia: Tim Albrecht, Governor Branstad’s press secretary, was the communications guru for the Sukup campaign in 2002.) In 2006, Sukup endorsed Bob Vander Plaats, another contestant in that 2002 primary race, before Vander Plaats dropped out and ran as Jim Nussle’s 2006 lieutenant governor running mate.

I saw Sukup in Waterloo (a long way from his home in Clear Lake) in August, as he was in the audience to hear Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann. Sukup said at the time he thought the pair would make a good 2012 ticket for Republicans. Sukup is now thinking of another name for the top of the ticket, as you see in the news release below from Rick Santorum’s campaign.

Urbandale, IA – Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign has received the endorsement of influential Iowa businessman, conservative activist, and former legislator Steve Sukup.Steve Sukup said: “My family has been in the manufacturing sector for decades and there is one candidate who understands the needs of businesses like my family’s. Rick Santorum understands what it will take to rebuild the manufacturing sector, bring jobs back to areas like northern Iowa, and revitalize our economy. I am proud to endorse Rick Santorum for President and I am excited to caucus for him this coming Tuesday.”[Read more…]

You can read about & listen to the announcement this past week from The Family Leader’s two leaders. Bob Vander Plaats, TFL’s president & CEO, announced the TFL board would remain neutral, but BVP & Chuck Hurley, president of the Iowa Family Policy Council (which is part of TheFamily Leader organization), were personally endorsing Rick Santorum.

There’s been lots of talk about money in connection with this endorsement. As Jennifer Jacobs writes in The Des Moines Register:

The situation has raised questions about whether any federal rules that prohibit coordination between a campaign and an outside group were broken.

“We’re the candidate right now that has the momentum, that has the message that’s resonating to the people of Iowa and I think they’re probably catching that and see this as the campaign that’s going to be the conservative alternative.”

This morning’s news conference revealed The Family Leader’s board of directors is remaining neutral in the GOP presidential race. TFL’s president & CEO Bob Vander Plaats personally endorsed Rick Santorum, as did The Iowa Family Policy Center’s president Chuck Hurley.

“I urge every undecided Iowa Caucus goer to take a close look at Rick, to study the scriptures, to pray hard…for above all, we answer to God for our vote,” Hurley said.

Hurley mentioned a person close to The Family Leader who has said he would burn BVP in effigy if he didn’t endorse a different candidate. Hurley refused, in Q&A with reporters, to say who that person was.

“I’ve never seen a Caucus like this. People are going from one candidate to another in a 10 minute period…so a voice of endorsement may have an impact,” BVP said.

Both BVP & Hurley suggest one or two “pro-family” candidates should drop out and run “as a team” so a conservative “could quickly vaunt into first place and win the nomination.”

“It depends on the humble heart of the individuals,” Hurley said of the decision to drop out.

BVP said his endorsement & Hurley’s gives a “stamp of credibility” to Santorum’s bid.

When asked what he’d say to Bachmann, Perry supporters, Hurley said you can win when you put other people ahead of yourselves. “It’s about the country. We’re going down the tubes…and it’s got to be about others and not ourselves,” Hurley said. “….Not everybody can be president and because of the fracture of the caucus voter, this calls for a special humility.”

Rick Santorum just took a swipe at Newt Gingrich. Santorum, during his speech at this evening’s premiere of The Gift of Life, said:

“I have some problems with some of the folks, you know, running for office these days when they say, ‘I believe life begins at conception,'” Santorum said.

Santorum was referencing the written statement Gingrich made to The Family Leader’s board of directors (in lieu of signing the group’s “Marriage Vow”), a statement in which Gingrich wrote: “I believe that life begins at conception.”

As GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum was finishing up an appearance today in Des Moines, his staff passed around a letter Santorum had signed in March, 2006 when he was a US Senator — a letter about the “enormous risk” Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac posed to the American taxpayer.

“I wasn’t someone who was saying, at the time, that we need to abolish them, but I saw the problems that were inherent in the system and now it’s clear to me, given what happened, we need to move away from that model,” Santorum told reporters this afternoon. “It was amazing how many people would come in and lobby, from a variety of different places, on Fannie and Freddie…They had more lobbyists than you could shake a stick at. They had Democrats and Republicans, everybody trying to surround the congress and get them from to stop from acting.”

Did you consider Gingrich a lobbyist?

“I was busy…If you had asked me then whether I knew Newt was working for them or not…I don’t remember,” Santorum said.

Santorum is not joining colleagues Mitt Romney and Ron Paul who have called on Gingrich to return the $1.6 million he earned from Freddie Mac.

“Newt was a private businessman who went out and engaged in a contract and I’m sure he earned that money and if he earned the money, I don’t see any reason he should give it back,” Santorum said. “That’s just gotcha politics. I’m not going to play that game.”

A reporter asked if the contract with Freddie Mac was troubling, and Santorum said he would has turned down a contract from Freddie rather than get a “paycheck to say things that may not necessarily be where you are and where your past history has been” as Gingrich did.

“Look, the very fact that he went out and lobbied for an organization that, in my opinion, was not consistent with the conservative values that we have…I mean, I just wouldn’t do that,” Santorum said. “…getting a paycheck for to say things that may not necessarily be where you are and where your past history has been.”

Santorum described Gingrich as a lobbyist and Gingrich has denied he was a lobbyist, so I asked Santorum if he considered Gingrich a Freddie Mac lobbyist. “I’m not going to contest whether he actually lobbied or not and if I said that, I apologize. I mean, I probably was not being as careful with my words as I should have been,” Santorum said. “He certainly worked for Freddie and he spoke on their behalf…He was someone promoting their values and promoting their cause.”

Listen to the AUDIO of the whole exchange. At the end of the Q&A, Santorum was asked about Romney’s $10,000 bet. “I was a little taken aback by it,” Santorum said. “…That would not be a number that I would throw out.”

GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum is today’s guest at The Principal Financial group. About 175 people are in the auditorium. Ron Paul last week, in the same room, had over 400 and Santorum began by stressing his foreign policy views on Iran, a sharp contrast with Paul.

His opening salvo, though, was to Iowans, urging them to make up their own minds about the candidates rather than listen to the media meme. “Were it not for Iowa, Barack Obama would not be president,” Santorum said. “…Now is your opportunity to provide the antidote.”

After that brief opening, Santorum talked about the “serious problems” the U.S. faces in the MidEast, specifically in the “radical theocracy” of Iran. Iran is a country, he said, that “has been at war with us for 32 years. That’s right — since 1979.”

According to Santorum, Iran has helped to kill more troops in the middle east than any other country because of the Iranian-made IEDs which are being used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Santorum said both the Obama and George W. Bush administrations have “done very little to push back” against Iran. He raised the spectre of a nuclear Iran (a topic Santorum and Paul quarreled about famously during a FOX News debate in Ames this past August).

Santorum said the “world as we know it” would be forever changes if Iran goes nuclear. “We have to have a president who will make sure that doesn’t happen,” Santorum said, adding he had been speaking out for a decade, warning of Iran’s nuclear intentions. “…We can lo longer afford someone who is learning on the job.”

Santorum, unlike Paul and Newt Gingrich who appeared in this venue recently, did not choose to stand on stage behind the lectern in business suit and tie. Instead, he roamed around at the front of the auditorium, not on stage, but in the small space in front of the first row of seats. He also was more casual, matching the attire of the Principal employees in the room, wearing a sweater vest over his button-down-shirt, teamed with khakis. He did not wear a tie ither. I can see only three ties in a quick look ’round the room.

Santorum offered this analysis of the nation’s economic problems: “Why is this economy suffereing? Because it’s being ruled more for the top-down….Government is controlling and dictating to you how you’re going to operate…That’s the issue in this election. It’s affecting the economy. It’s affecting the morale of this country…We have a fundamental decision: do you believe in bottom up or do you believe in top down?…Our country…is teetering on the brink.”

Being away from his family is “killing me” Santorum told the crowd, gesturing a photo of his family that’s behind him on stage. He concluded at 12:30 p.m. and opened it up for questions.

The first questioner made a joke about Santorum’s accomplishment of visiting all 99 counties, which prompted Santorum to reminisce about the tour. He asked for a show of hands in the room, asking who could name the smallest county in Iowa. (Pick me! Pick me! It’s Adams County.)

Santorum told the crowd it is, indeed Adams County. He described a visit to Kay’s Kafe in Corning, the county seat. Getting to Kay’s requires a trip through the bar. As Santorum was speaking with the five people who met him at Kay’s to talk, reporter Joe Klein walked in.

Santorum said he had used the “of all the gin joints” line with Klein, but then Santorum told the crowd: “That’s just Iowa…It’s where things are happening. It’s where America is making its decisions…and that’s a pretty cool thing to be involved in.”

The questioner then asked his question of Santorum, a question about how to get things done in a politically-divided D.C. Snatorum said he would be “someone who has the courage to go out and remind us who we are,” like Reagan. “If we could all come togeter of who we are…it’s a lot easier to build consensus,” Santorum said. “…If there is anything this president has done is he’s divided us.”

The “class struggle” strategy came from Marxists, according to Santorum, who made an off-hand remark about the 99 percent argument from the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The second question came from a man who asked whether, given the status of the “income statement” of the United States, solving the problem might require raising taxes. “It’s going to be harder to extract much more out of America,” Santorum said, detailing his tax cut proposals for the crowd. He argued that package of tax reductions would spur economic growth and result in more federal tax revenues.

Santorum joked he doesn’t speak, as other candidates do, in four-second sound bites. “I talk in four minute sound bites,” he said. “It’s why I don’t do very well at these debates.”

GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum has been touting a “big announcement” scheduled for this evening in the Des Moines metro, but the cat’s out of the bag. Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz — the only rookie candidate running statewide in 2010 to win — is endorsing Santorum. This past spring Schultz, who is Mormon, blasted Jon Huntsman’s vow to skip Iowa. Here’s that statement:

HUNTSMAN NOT READY FOR THE BIG DANCE

Des Moines, Iowa – June 6, 2011 – Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz released the following statement today regarding Jon Huntsman’s comments on his intention to skip the Iowa Caucus due to his opposition to ethanol subsidies:

Over the years I have heard presidential candidates state reasons for skipping the Iowa caucuses. It always leaves me wondering if those are the real reasons for not coming to Iowa. The most recent example of this is Jon Huntsman’s announcement that he won’t compete in Iowa. Apparently, Huntsman believes that he will not get a fair shake in Iowa because he opposes ethanol subsidies. In my opinion, this excuse seems to have as much credibility as “the dog ate my homework.”

It is apparent that Mr. Huntsman is in need of a lesson in Iowa politics. Iowa is a bellwether state. We care about our families, our faith and our freedom. We are not single-issue voters. We just want to know how presidential candidates are going to make our country better. Hopefully Mr. Huntsman will change his mind and come to Iowa and explain how he plans on fixing the problems facing our country.

Iowans look forward to the opportunity to hear Mr. Huntsman’s vision for America. We will listen to him explain his support for Cap and Trade. We will listen to him explain why he took more than one billion dollars in federal stimulus money. We will listen to him explain why he wants to replace his former boss, Barack Obama. We will listen to him explain why he is distancing himself from his Mormon faith. Mr. Huntsman should know that Iowans elected me as their Secretary of State and my Mormon faith was never an issue.

Is Jon Huntsman not coming to Iowa because he opposes ethanol subsidies or because he is afraid to explain his positions on other issues? Iowa Congressman Steve King opposes ethanol subsidies and he continues to get reelected with large margins of victory. If Mr. Huntsman refuses to compete in a bellwether state like Iowa, he is not ready for the big dance. After all, our last two presidents won the Iowa Caucus before they went to the White House.

Here’s the brief statement Schultz emailed at 6:38 this morning about his endorsement of Santorum:

(DES MOINES) – Secretary of State Matt Schultz announced today that he will be supporting Rick Santorum for President in the Iowa Caucus January 3rd.“Senator Santorum is a strong advocate for faith, family, and freedom. He has a solid track record as a social and fiscal conservative from his time serving in the US Senate and House of Representatives. As a Republican from a blue state, he has the experience to win in tough elections. Senator Santorum shares my core conservative principles and I believe he should be the Republican candidate to take on President Obama. That is why I am supporting Rick Santorum.”

Santorum’s campaign announced yesterday former ISU wrestling coach Jim Gibbons, an administrator in Schultz’ office, had endorsed Santorum’s candidacy. Gibbons was a GOP candidate for congress in 2010; he lost a crowded primary to state Senator Brad Zaun, who lost the general election to Iowa Congressman Leonard Boswell.

Schultz was a tireless campaigner in 2010 as when sought to unseat Secretary of State Michael Mauro, a Democrat who was seeking a second term. After the election, Republican Governor Terry Branstad named Mauro State Labor Commissioner. Schultz made requiring a photo ID for voting the cornerstone of his 2010 campaign. The Democratically-led Iowa Senate has refused to take up the photo I.D. bill.

GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum spoke with reporters in Sioux City this morning and Santorum was asked how he’ll attract Herman Cain supporters to his candidacy. Santorum’s answer unveiled a criticism of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich — that nothing much really happened after Republicans in the House took over in 1995 under Gingrich’s leadership. Here’s the transcript of Santorum’s answer:

“What Herman did was he was someone who was willing to do down and shake up Washington, D.C. and, you know, if you look at my rhetoric — I mean I’m not as flashy by any stretch of the imagination as Herman is, I mean, Herman has a great gift — but my record’s pretty good at shaking up Washington, D.C.

“…Newt Gingrich takes a lot of credit for the Contract with America and winning the House in 1994, but if you go back in 1994, the real issue was corruption in Washington and the real reason for that was because Rick Santorum and (former Iowa Congressman) Jim Nussle and several others stood up and exposed the rampant corruption going on in congress and that was more of the reason for the 1994 election win for Republicans than anything else.

“So the Contract with America gets all the praise, but candidly, the Contract with America didn’t even exist until about eight weeks before the election. That movement for ’94 was well underway before that…Unfortunately, you know, Republicans got in and weren’t able to make the kind of big changes, other than one I was involved with, which is welfare reform, I was the author of when I was in the House and managed the bill on the floor of the Senate, (but) other than that, we didn’t take the ball very far down the field and I think we need a president who’s willing to shake things up, change the dynamic down there.”

Nussle, if you recall, wore a paper bag on his head during a dramatic speech on the House floor in which he called for unmasking the members of congress who had bounced checks at the House bank.

Santorum also was asked for his reaction to his six percent, near the bottom-dweller position in the Iowa Poll. “People have asked me what I have to do to get my spark…and I’ve believed it from the very beginning, that my spark will be the people of Iowa…(who) come out to these town hall meetings,” he said. “…Having been to every county and holding about 250 town hall meetings…people are coming our way.”

Santorum told reporters in Sioux City it won’t be his debate performances that will move the number. “It’s going to be the hard work that we put in and talking to the people of Iowa and people of Iowa responding the way they have in the past and that is ignoring the national media, ignoring the pundits and putting forth the best conservative candidate that’s out there…I think our numbers will continue to steadily grow…and we’re going to surprise a lot of people on Caucus Day,” he said.

Thanks to Woody Gottburg of KSCJ Radio in Sioux City for supplying the audio to Radio Iowa.

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About O.Kay Henderson

Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award. More »